* 






ON CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH ONCE DELIVERED 
TO THE SAINTS. < 



pV 4017 
I.D43 
ICopy 1 




SERMON 



PRE ACHED AT 



W§t <&rtrination in tfavntwrn araatlr, 



ON SUNDAY, JULY 10, 1842. 



BY 



W. DEALTRY, D.D. F.R.S. 

RECTOR OF CLAPHAM, SURREY, AND CHANCELLOR OF THE 
DIOCESE OF "WINCHESTER 



i 



LONDON : 



PUBLISHED BY D. BATTEN, CLAPHAM COMMON J 

HATCH ARD AND SON, PICCADILLY : AND 
JACOB AND JOHNSON, WINCHESTER. 

1842. 



i 



ON CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH ONCE DELIVERED 
TO THE SAINTS. 



A SERMON 



PREACHED AT 



€f)e <&rtrinatton in dfawtjattt <£a0tie, 



ON SUNDAY, JULY 10, 1842. 



W. DEALTRY, D.D. F.R.S. 

RECTOR OF CLAPHAM, SURREY, AND CHANCELLOR OF THI 
DIOCESE OF WINCHESTER 



LONDON : 

PUBLISHED BY D. BATTEN, CLAPHAM COMMON ; 

HATCHARD AND SON, PICCADILLY : AND 
JACOB AND JOHNSON, WINCHESTER. 

1842. 



r 



LONDON : 

PRINTED BY D. BATTEN, 

CLAPHAM. 



4^ 



TO 



THE RIGHT REVEREND 



CHARLES RICHARD, LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER, 



THE CANDIDATES FOR ORDINATION, 



AT FARNHAM CASTLE, JULY 10, 1842, 



THIS SERMON, 



PUBLISHED BY HIS LORDSHIP'S DESIRE, 



AND IN CONFORMITY WITH THE REQUEST OF THE CANDIDATES, 



IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. 



A SERMON. 



THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JUDE, Verse 3. 

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you 
of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write 
unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly 
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto 
the saints. 

The Church of Christ was troubled, even in 
the first ages, by false and heretical teachers ; in- 
somuch that, according to some writers, there has 
probably arisen in later times scarcely any cor- 
ruption of the truth the germ of which did not 
exist at that early period. Hence the Apostles, 
in denouncing the errors of their own day, have 
met, by almost direct anticipation, the chief per- 
versions of the Gospel which have since appeared ; 
and their admonitions are scarcely less applicable 
now than at the time when they were first deli- 
vered. Nor is this the only assistance which, in 

B 



defence of the truth, we derive from the already 
harassed state of the primitive Church. In con- 
tending for the faith once delivered unto the 
saints the inspired writers have placed before us 
some of the chief doctrines of the Gospel under 
many aspects, and in a way to meet many objec- 
tions ; whilst on other great truths they have, by 
their reasonings, shed a light for which we cannot 
be too thankful. So mercifully has Infinite Wis- 
dom brought good out of evil, and rendered 
heresies themselves subservient to the welfare of 
the Church of Christ. 

It was on account of certain flagrant perversions 
of the Gospel, specified in the verses which follow 
the text, that St. Jude wrote this Epistle. On 
these it is not my purpose to dwell. The general 
exhortation with which he introduces the mention 
of them will afford ample scope for our consider- 
ation. It is useful to every class of Christians ; 
but it may with special propriety be urged upon 
those who are undertaking the responsible office 
of Ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mys- 
teries of God. May the Holy Spirit direct and 
bless our meditations ! 

I. The term " faith" is obviously to be under- 
stood here as denoting the objects of faith, as 
comprising all those truths which had been deli- 
vered to the saints, and are essential to man's 



salvation. The Apostle evidently speaks of this 
faith as a thing known. The persons addressed, 
being sanctified by God the Father, and pre- 
served in Jesus Christ, and called, were already 
acquainted with it: there was to them no need of 
further discoveries : that was the faith which 
they professed and held. The design of the 
Apostle is not to teach them the faith, but to stir 
up their pure minds by way of remembrance, to 
build them up on its well-known statements, and 
to guard against every perversion of it. 

St. Jude speaks of this faith as once delivered 
to the saints : whether he means that it was 
delivered formerly, or once for all, may possibly 
be a question ; the latter interpretation seems to 
be the best, from the strength which it gives to 
the admonition in the text as condemnatory of 
the false teachers. But upon this point we need 
not dwell. The Apostles, we know, had received 
the faith in its fulness. They had received it 
from Him who alone could deliver it, the Holy 
Spirit of God. He had, by his own immediate 
teaching, instructed them in all things which 
were requisite for the great object of their mi- 
nistry ; and, under the same heavenly guidance, 
they have left the truth as they received it, for all 
generations: though dead, yet speaking ; warning 
every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom. 
The faith had been in progress of delivery from 

b2 



8 



the earliest times. Holy men of old spake as they 
were moved by the Holy Ghost : the Bible con- 
tains the words which they thus spake, both 
before and under the Christian dispensation : and 
beyond the boundaries of that inspired volume 
we can find no statement which has any accre- 
dited claim to Divine authority. So far as 
knowledge is concerned, if the things necessary 
to salvation, from its commencement to its com- 
pletion, be not found in the Scriptures, they are 
to be found nowhere. Tn conformity with these 
views is the express language of our Church in 
her Article " On the Sufficiency of the Holy 
Scriptures for Salvation." " Holy Scripture con- 
taineth all things necessary to salvation : so that 
whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved 
thereby, is not to be required of any man that it 
should be believed as an article of the faith, or 
be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." 
And not less decisive is the Homily " Of the 
Knowledge of the Holy Scripture," written, as it 
should seem, by one of our greatest Reformers, 
and appointed,* like the other Homilies, to be 
read in churches by the Ministers. " Let us 
diligently search for the well of life in the books 
of the Old and New Testament, and not run to 
the puddles of men's traditions, devised by men's 

* Art. XXXY. 



9 



imagination for our justification and salvation. 
For in Holy Scripture is fully contained what we 
ought to do, and what to eschew, what to believe, 
what to love, and what to look for at God's right 
hand at length." 

It appears to follow from this reasoning, and to 
be implied in these remarks, that the faith is set 
forth in the Scriptures in a clear and explicit 
manner. But are there not in the Bible many 
things obscure ? Do we not in various parts of 
it meet with difficulties which for the present it 
seems impossible to remove ? 

These are questions frequently proposed, and a 
few observations on this point may, perhaps, not 
be wholly without use. 

As to the alleged obscurity, then, of certain 
passages in the Sacred Writings, no man of wis- 
dom or humility can doubt the fact. The revela- 
tion of God's will and purposes of grace, by a 
gradual process, from the patriarchal times, would 
necessarily have the effect of leaving obscure in 
one age what was clear in another. The predic- 
tions of the Prophets were, for the most part, and 
for obvious reasons, not understood at the time of 
their delivery, and their meaning can in general 
be clearly and fully seen only by the fulfilment of 
them. Our want of correct knowledge as to the 
modes of thinking, and manners, and particular 
history of ancient nations, must render difficult 



10 

many passages, especially in the Prophets, which 
would otherwise be plain. And, not to mention 
other causes of obscurity, many of the great sub- 
jects of revelation are by their very nature beyond 
the capacity of man. Of this sort are the resur- 
rection of the dead, the destruction of the heavens 
and the earth, the judgment of the last day, and 
generally what is said of spiritual things and of 
the invisible world; and it is of such subjects that 
St. Peter is speaking when he tells us that with 
reference to them there are in St. Paul's Epistles 
some things hard to be understood. Could it, we 
might ask, be otherwise ? The time will come 
when we shall know even as ice are known : but ■ 
if it please God to make any revelation concerning 
these things, it must, to our limited perceptions, 
be encompassed by clouds which man cannot 
penetrate. It does not, however, follow that the 
faith once delivered to the saints is therefore 
doubtful : whatever is essential to salvation may 
still be as clear as the noon-day sun. It is not 
necessary for my belief in the fact of the Trinity, 
or for my deriving from such belief great practical 
benefit, that I should be able to comprehend the 
mode in which that fact is true. And I may 
experience the blessed influence of the Holy 
Spirit, in renewing my heart, and sanctifying my 
nature, and making me meet to be a partaker of 
the inheritance of the saints in light, while of the 



11 



manner of his operation I can say little more than 
I can tell of the wind, whence it cometh, and 
whither it goeth. Let it be granted only that 
the Scriptures are all given by Divine inspiration, 
and that their grand design is to point out the 
way to heaven, and the conclusion is inevitable — 
to doubt their clearness, or their sufficiency for 
the end proposed, what is it but to impeach the 
goodness or wisdom of God ? 

The testimony of the Sacred Records is in this 
respect decisive. The dispensation of the Old 
Testament was but as the dawning of a coming 
day. Even the Prophets knew not the full meaning 
of their own predictions concerning the sufferings 
of Christ, and the glory that should follow ; but 
were these predictions insufficient to direct the 
mind which was prepared for such discoveries to 
the Great Sacrifice and the way of salvation ? It 
is of the Old Testament that we read Whatsoever 
things were written aforetime were written for 
our learning, that we through patience and com- 
fort of the Holy Scriptures might have hope. It 
is of the ancient Scriptures that the Apostle 
speaks, as being profitable for doctrine, for re- 
proof for correction, for instruction in right- 
eousness, that the man of God may he perfect, 
throughly furnished unto all good ivorks. It is 
of a portion of these Scriptures that the Psalmist 
says, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a 



12 



light unto my path. And the law of Moses, 
which God commanded the fathers to make 
known to their children, was to be learnt for 
this very purpose, that they might set their hope 
in God, and not forget the works of God, but 
keep his commandments. Did not our blessed 
Saviour himself enjoin upon his hearers, Search 
the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have (that 
is, in them ye have) eternal life, and they are 
they which testify of me ? Did not the Apostles, 
in their controversies with the Jews, refer in 
like manner to the books of the Old Testament ? 
And are not the Bereans commended because 
on hearing St. Paul they searched the Scriptures 
daily whether those things were so ? Therefore, 
it is added, many of them believed. 

But if the Old Testament, on matters so impor- 
tant, were clear, much rather may we affirm this 
of the New Testament. This exhibits to us the 
realities which were shadowed forth in the ancient 
"Writings ; it opens to us more fully the mind of 
God : and can we imagine that it is less explicit ? 
or that it withholds from us any thing which is 
necessary to salvation : Let us hear its own tes- 
timony. 

St Luke wrote his Gospel that the person to 
whom he addressed it might know the certainty 
of those things wherein he had been instructed. 
St. John, in stating that our blessed Lord did 



13 



many other things which are not recorded in his 
Gospel, adds, But these are written that ye might 
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; 
and that believing ye might have life through his 
name. Are we not justified, then, in affirming, 
that in the words of Christ and his Apostles we 
have clearly delivered to us whatever it is neces- 
sary for us to know that we may attain to ever- 
lasting life ? 

In thus holding up the Scriptures as the rule 
of faith we do in no wise depreciate the Christian 
ministry. We know that it is of Divine appoint- 
ment, and that it has great duties to discharge ; 
to awaken the careless, to instruct the ignorant, 
to edify the whole body of Christ. It is mainly 
through the agency of those who have been 
ordained to this office that the worship of God is 
preserved from age to age, and that in every 
nation men are turned from darkness to light, 
and become established in the faith of the Gospel. 
While we say, therefore, with a venerated father 
of our Church, " Faith, and all things pertaining 
to godliness, do hang upon the reading and hear- 
ing of the Word of God," we add also with him, 
" that therefore apostles, and teachers, and pro- 
phets, and expounders are most necessary to the 
Church of God, and that we are bound to hear 
such teachers and expounders even as the Lord 
himself if he were present, so far as they teach 



14 



only those things which they have received of the 
Lord." * 

Neither do we take away any credit which is 
justly due to the ancient fathers: "We read their 
works, we reverence them, we give God thanks 
for them, we call them the pillars, the lights, the 
fathers of God's Church ; we despise them not ; 
this thing only we say, were their learning and 
holiness never so great, yet be they not equal in 
credit with the Scriptures of God." "j~ A like 
testimony of honour and respect, with a like dis- 
tinction, we gladly bear to many writers of later 
date, and to none more fully than to our own 
Reformers. 

Nor must it be supposed that we cast any dis- 
credit upon human learning, and upon studious 
research for the illustration of the Word of God. 
That much has been done in this way to remove 
difficulties and to explain dark passages, to vin- 
dicate the truth, to leave infidelity without excuse, 
and to convince gainsayers, and that an unlearned 
ministry is little suited to the almost daily calls 
and exigencies of the Church, is readily and fully 
admitted : but all this affects not our argument ; 
we are still strong as ever in the fact that, in the 
sense here assigned to the expression, the Scrip- 
tures are the only rule of faith, and that they are 

* Nowell's Catechism. f Jewell. 



15 

clear and explicit on all the great points which 
involve the salvation of the soul. 

Yet it cannot be denied that there is,, even on 
these points, great diversity of judgment, and 
that hitherto we discover nothing like agreement 
and uniformity, either as to faith or practice. 
Whence is it that these divisions and heresies 
arise ? Whence is it that men have so little 
learned to ivalk by the same rule, and to mind 
the same thing ? 

The answer is, that although God has made 
known his will in the Holy Scriptures, yet is it 
necessary for us, if we would rightly understand 
them, to be instructed and enlightened by the 
Holy Spirit. " Surely," says a great writer, # 
blind must they be that can suffer themselves to 
be persuaded that ever God in Christ would have 
a rule for man's direction in the mysteries of sal- 
vation, so plain and easy as he should not need 
to be beholden to his Maker and Redeemer for 
the perfect understanding of it." It was not till 
our blessed Saviour, beginning at Moses and all 
the "Prophets, expounded to the two disciples on 
their way to Emmaus, in all the Scriptures the 
things concerning himself, and, in like manner, 
till he had opened the understandings of the 
eleven Apostles that they might understand the 

* Dr. T. Jackson. 



16 

Scriptures, that even these men saw the just 
application and force of the predictions concern- 
ing Christ. And neither shall we, till the Holy 
Spirit removes the veil from our minds, have a 
right apprehension of those things which belong 
to our peace, and, like Lydia, receive the truth 
into our hearts. 

To whom, then, will this Spirit be vouchsafed ? 
to the careless, or disobedient, or worldly, or in- 
sincere ? to the proud or presumptuous ? to men 
who love darkness rather than light, or prefer 
prejudice and party to the truth ? This blessing 
will be afforded to the poor in spirit, to the hum- 
ble and contrite, to those who in simplicity and 
teachableness are like little children, to such as 
are desirous to know the will of God to the end 
that they may do it. To men of this description 
the Holy Spirit will be given : he will enlighten 
their minds, and will guide them into all necessary 
truth. And if there be still some dark pages in 
the inspired records, this circumstance will only 
render such persons more humble, and induce 
them to search the Scriptures with increased 
diligence and continued prayer, and make them 
cling with heightened devotion and gratitude to 
that faith which points to a world where all igno- 
rance shall be dispelled, and they shall walk for 
ever in the light. On matters not essential to 
salvation, and not distinctly set forth in God's 









17 



Holy Word, there may, and perhaps must, be 
among the best of men, some difference of judg- 
ment. Such was the case with the venerated 
Reformers of the sixteenth century. But, says 
one of the chief of them,* " God be thanked, we 
agree thoroughly together in the whole substance 
of the religion of Christ, and altogether with one 
heart and one spirit do glorify God, the Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly Augustine, St. 
Jerome, St. Chrysostom, Epiphanius, and Theo- 
philus, as it appeareth by their writings, agreed 
no better in their times than we do now ; yet had 
they and every of them the Word of God, and 
the same Word of God was a light unto their 
feet." 

In assuming that you, my brethren, who are 
now giving yourselves to the service of the Chris- 
tian ministry, have searched the Scriptures in a 
right spirit, and have, by God's grace, been en- 
abled to understand and to receive the faith once 
delivered to the saints, we take nothing for granted 
but what it behoves us to believe ; it is meet for 
us to think this of you all. And in becoming 
Ministers of the Church of England you avow 
that this faith is set forth in her Articles, and 
embodied in her Liturgy. In place, then, of 
deducing here, and necessarily at some length, 

* Jewell. Defence of the Apology. 



the essential principles of the faith from the 
Scriptures themselves, we may at once refer to 
the Articles, which you acknowledge to be a just 
and distinct exhibition of them. And among 
these let it suffice now to refer to the Eleventh 
Article, " Of the Justification of Man," as being- 
one which, if sincerely maintained, will, by God's 
blessing, secure you against most of the sophistries 
and errors of the day. To the mistaken views 
which have prevailed on this most important 
doctrine may be traced in a very great degree 
the decay of true religion in past times, as well 
as most of those unhappy speculations which 
from age to age have made havoc of the Church. 

II. Now, with respect to this faith once deli- 
vered to the saints, I exhort yon, saith St. Jude, 
that ye should earnestly contend for it. 

This exhortation is addressed generally to them 
that are sanctified by God the Father, and pre- 
served in Jesus Christ, and called ; that is, to all 
true Christians of every class. It must apply, as 
already intimated, in an especial manner to those 
who are called to the office of the ministry. 

The allusion, in the word " contend," appears 
to be to the Grecian games, in which the can- 
didate for the prize put forth all his strength. 
Thus it behoves us to contend for the faith. 

There is a principle abroad, sometimes mistaken 



19 



for liberality or candour, which, in acknowledging 
the right of private judgment, prompts men to 
act as if there were no such thing as a doctrine 
necessary to salvation ; as if, in fact, not the Holy 
Scripture, but our interpretation of it, were the 
rule of faith ; as if one set of doctrines were just 
as good as another, provided that a man has sin- 
cerely, as the term is, brought himself to embrace 
it. How different the principle of St. Jude ! 
He makes mention of the faith once delivered to 
the saints as the only true faith, and calls upon 
us to contend for it. 

The expression is remarkable. For is not the 
herald of the gospel one that publisheth peace ? 
God is himself the God of peace : Jesus Christ is 
the Prince of peace : the legacy which he left to 
his disciples was the blessing of peace : his ser- 
vants are directed, as much as lieth in them, to 
live peaceably with all men : and the final effect 
of the Gospel is to be peace on earth, universal 
peace, strikingly represented in ancient prophecy 
by the concord of beasts naturally ravenous and 
ferocious enemies to man and to each other. No 
spirit can be more opposed to that of true religion 
than is the spirit of discord ; yet is it enjoined 
upon the servants of Christ to contend for the 
faith. 

This may be done by us, in a general way, by 
preaching the Word ; by testifying the gospel of 



20 

the grace of God, in its fulness and its purity ; 
not dwelling upon one part, and keeping another 
in reserve ; not shrinking from the assertion of 
one scriptural truth because by some persons it 
has been carried to an unwarrantable length, or 
giving undue prominence to another because it 
happens to suit the taste of the day, or declining 
to urge a third through some apprehension of 
mischievous results ; but, taking the Apostles as 
our guides, to preach the gospel just as it has 
been delivered to us. The Minister of Christ 
must seek to gain no man by qualifying the state- 
ments of the Bible : he is fearlessly to declare 
the whole counsel of God. 

And in doing this he is to contend earnestly. 
Not like a person who is satisfied with a mere 
exposition of the truth, but like one who feels its 
unspeakable value. It must be seen by his ear- 
nestness as well as his faithfulness in preaching 
the Word, that on the due receiving of it, and on 
obedience to its precepts, depends, according to 
his own clear conviction, all the real happiness of 
this life, and all the hope of the life to come, — the 
reconciliation through Christ of the sinner to his 
God, the sanctification and salvation of the soul. 
To preach even the truth itself as if we had no 
right feeling of its importance, is not the way to 
impress it upon others. Our congregations must 
learn from our earnestness that we duly appreciate 



21 

the value of the Gospel, if we ever expect that it 
is to find its way to their hearts. 

But the circumstances of the times may require 
from us yet more. It may be that false doctrines 
are abroad ; that the blessed truths of the Gospel 
are either openly assailed, or in danger of being 
covertly undermined by error creeping in among 
us almost unawares. What is, in such a case, to 
be the conduct of the Minister of Christ ? Is he 
simply to preach the Word ? or is he to contend 
in another sense for the faith, by meeting front 
to front the advocates of error, and withstanding 
them to the face ? If there be an adequate cause 
he is doubtless to combat with the error directly ; 
he must not, through fear of being deemed con- 
tentious, remain silent as to particular perversions 
of the truth, whatever they be, when faithfulness 
to God or to the flock committed to his charge 
calls him into conflict. 

" St. Paul gave an example of this earnestness 
in the case of the Galatians, contending against 
those who troubled them, and so perverted their 
minds from the truth ; and not scrupling to say, 
6 If any man preach any other Gospel unto you 
than that ye have received, let him be accursed/ 
He had done the same at Antioch, when the per- 
son to be contended with was one of the chief 
Apostles. Peter had yielded to his own natural 
prejudices and those of his countrymen, and with- 

c 



22 

drew himself for awhile from brotherly communion 
with the Gentile Christians ; then, said Paul, ' 1 
withstood him to the face, because he was to be 
blamed.' " * 

And to a like course every Priest of the Church 
of England is voluntarily pledged, when duty 
requires it. He is to be " ready with all faithful 
diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous 
and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word." ~}~ 
But let us not in this way be eager for contention; 
let us be sure that there is a sufficient cause ; 
and if we must combat thus directly for the truth, 
let us be very careful to do it in a right spirit — 
in the spirit of humility, of meekness, and of love. 

In the spirit of humility ; with a deep 
sense of our proneness to err, except as we obtain 
wisdom from above ; with a heartfelt acknow- 
ledgment, that unless it had pleased God by his 
Holy Spirit to open our eyes that we might behold 
wondrous things out of his law, we should our- 
selves have been in darkness. 

In the spirit of meekness. The servant 
of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto 
all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness in- 
structing those that oppose themselves, if God 
peradventure will give them repentance, to the 

* Bishop of Chester on St. Jude. 
f Ordination Service. 



23 

acknowledgment of the truth. If we have to 
give a reason of the hope that is in us, it is to be 
done with meekness. We are required to put on 
meekness, to follow meekness, to walk with all 
meekness ; whatever be our intercourse with our 
fellow-creatures, to show all meekness unto all 
men. The wrath of man worketh not the right- 
eousness of God. 

In the spirit of love. With an aifectionate 
desire that the advocates themselves of false doc- 
trine may be brought to the saving knowledge of 
the truth. This is not only the disposition which 
our blessed Saviour, when enduring the contra- 
diction of sinners against himself, uniformly exhi- 
bited, but it is the disposition which his religion 
pointedly demands. To contend for the faith in 
a different spirit is to tarnish and degrade it. 
And by this disposition we shall most effectually 
recommend the truth. Arguments which are 
thus urged have peculiar influence ; the most 
stubborn natures are found often to bend before 
them ; and the same man who would be roused 
into bitterness by the sharp language of strife, 
will in many cases readily yield himself to the 
assertor of principles deemed hitherto offensive, 
when addressed by him in the spirit of love. 

But permit me here to advert once again, and 
yet more expressly, to the point of not contending 
before contention is to be desired. Permit me to 



24 

suggest to the youthful Minister to guard against 
the snare of alwa} T s taking a part in the contro- 
versies of the times. To dwell much upon the 
errors of others is to deprive our own minds of 
the near contact of truth. Spirituality of mind 
courts retirement, tranquility, and prayer. Would 
we bless others, we must live in familiarity with 
great and holy thoughts. We must address our 
flocks as do those who labour to commune with 
God, that we may guide them to his presence. 
Controversy should be our sorrow, and not our 
pursuit. 

In drawing these observations to a. close, I 
cannot but refer to the great solemnity of the 
occasion which brings us together this day. To 
see a goodly company of young persons deliber- 
ately renouncing the attractions and vanities of 
the world, and devoting themselves to the work 
of the Christian ministry, would, even in ordinary 
times, awaken in the considerate spectator many 
serious reflections, and call forth on their behalf 
many fervent prayers. But these are not ordinary 
times. If, like Moses on Mount Pisgah, we could 
stand on some eminence from which we might 
survey the lengtii and breadth of this Christian 
land ; if we could see in all their workings the 
heresies and divisions which disturb the peace of 
the Church ; if we could distinctly observe the 



25 



emissaries of false doctrine who creep in unawares, 
and the more daring abettors of corrupt principles, 
who have no fear of God before their eyes ; — if 
wc could trace and follow these men respectively 
in their unhappy occupations, we should feel that 
the office of the Minister of Christ is, especially 
in these days, one of high responsibility : and 
how much, my brethren, must depend upon the 
fidelity and wisdom with which you discharge it ! 
Let no man, says the Apostle to Timothy, de- 
spise thy youth. — Let there be nothing in thy 
teaching or thy conduct which shall bring dis- 
credit on thyself, and thus inflict injury on religion. 
— If in some respects pertaining to the Christian 
ministry youth has its disadvantages ; if, from the 
want of large experience, it be disposed to adopt 
principles without just examination ; if it be prone 
to be led away by subtle and ingenious theories, 
and to listen with undue regard to the bold claims 
of imposing forms and ceremonies, till the faith 
once delivered to the saints is in danger of being 
obscured by them, or even lost ; — yet let it not, 
on the other hand, be forgotten, how valuable for 
the work of the ministry are that zeal, and energy, 
and freshness, and hopefulness, which are so often 
the associates of youthful piety, and how well they 
become the Preacher of the Gospel. Only let 
there be added to these qualities the spirit of a 
sound mind, stability in the faith, and a readiness 



26 



to profit by the wisdom of the wise, and the 
experience of the aged, and then no man can 
have any reasonable pretence for despising your 
youth. The station which you will even now 
occupy in the Church of Christ is one in which 
the best qualities of the youthful mind will find 
ample scope for operation ; and for your encou- 
ragement we would bid you remember that pro- 
bably the youngest member of that little flock 
which our Saviour had chosen to follow him is 
mentioned as the disciple whom Jesus loved. 

Shall we say that, in fulfilling the ministry 
which you have received of the Lord, in taking 
heed unto yourselves and unto the doctrine, and 
continuing in them, you will both save yourselves 
and them that hear you ? It seems as if upon 
your fidelity depend interests of yet greater mag- 
nitude. We have spoken of wide-spread disorders 
and divisions, and the strife of conflicting parties; 
may we not hope that by your faithful ministra- 
tions and earnest prayers much may be done to 
heal these divisions, and, through the instrumen- 
tality of the National Church, to diffuse over the 
land the blessings of the Reformation in all their 
purity ? In the efforts which we have now wit- 
nessed for some years to repair the walls of our 
Zion, and to extend yet more and more through 
all classes of our people the knowledge and the 
worship of God, we see much to inspire us with 



27 



thankfulness and hope. It is for you to carry on 
this good work with increased vigour, and to 
transmit it in a more advanced state to those that 
follow you. 

But let us look yet farther. Cast your eyes 
upon scenes still more remote. See what the 
Church of our fathers, under all her domestic 
trials, through the Divine goodness, is effecting 
in distant countries, how she is lengthening her 
cords, and strengthening her stakes, and stretching 
forth the curtains of her habitations, and, with 
these, the cords and stakes and habitations of 
the Church universal. Contemplate her Mission- 
aries and her Bishops, going forth to the east, 
and to the west, wherever Divine Providence 
opens the way, carrying with them the blessings 
of the Gospel of peace, and, after the example of 
ancient times, adopting the best measures for its 
permanent success. At this moment, and by the 
blessing of God upon the noble efforts of our own 
days, to the New Zealander, and the Australian, 
and the Hindoo, and the emancipated children of 
Africa in the Western World, are thus preached 
by her Ministers the unsearchable riches of Christ. 
Nor is it among the least encouraging or least 
remarkable signs of the times, that by the happy 
co-operation of other Christians, servants alike of 
the same Master, although belonging to different 
sections of the Catholic Church, and in striking 



28 

accordance with the prophecy, Kings shall be thy 
nursing fathers, and their Queens thy nursing 
mothers ; the very land which witnessed the mira- 
cles, and heard the voice of the Son of God, and 
the very city where by his express command the 
Apostles first began to preach in his name repent- 
ance and remission of sins, can now with peculiar 
emphasis exclaim, How beautiful upon the mount- 
ains are the feet of him that bring eth good tidings, 
that publisheth peace, that saith unto Zion Thy 
God reigneth ! Shall these and other similar 
openings of Divine Providence, connected as they 
are with the increasing prosperity of the Church 
in this kingdom, be without effect? Shall the 
promise, thus apparently held forth, that the 
Church of England is destined in an eminent 
degree to spread the benefit of Christian civiliza- 
tion and Christian knowledge not be fulfilled ? 
These questions, my brethren, in humble depend- 
ence upon him who alone can crown all human 
efforts with success, it is in part for you to answer. 
In proportion to the purity and intensity of the 
light in this our sanctuary will it stream forth to 
the dark places of the earth. Of those who by 
the grace of God have signally promoted the good 
work, many have gone to their reward, and others 
will speedily follow them. You are entering into 
their labours. Imitate their example. Like them 
contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to 



29 

the saints ; and doubt not, that while there is 
promised to you a gracious recompense in the 
last day, you shall also be among the honoured 
instruments of God in accomplishing that sure 
word of prophecy, From the rising up of the sun 
unto the going down of the same my name shall 
be great among the Gentiles, and in every place 
incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure 
offering, for my name shall be great among the 
heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts. 



THE END. 



BATTEN, PRINTER, CLAPHAM. 



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